


Deadly Pursuit

by Chrysonice



Category: Paladins: Champions Of The Realm (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Gen, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28674333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrysonice/pseuds/Chrysonice
Summary: Pip and Pepper reflect on Yagorath's chaotic entrance into the Realm, and how it brought the lives of many champions to an end, including one champion that Pip cannot get over.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Deadly Pursuit

**Author's Note:**

> This does not necessarily follow the lore of the card this story takes inspiration from.

The sand rumbled. A new threat to the Realm made her way through the lives of champions. The name mustered was Yagorath.

Pip, the Rogue Alchemist, sat on the edge of a cliff where he witnessed a fantastic view of the Shattered Desert. The midnight view brought him back to simpler times, where all he had to do was pull some strings and steal ingredients from under noses back in Brightmarsh. However, every time he let nostalgia take hold, thoughts of a certain bunny-like friend named Moji flooded his mind.

* * *

It wasn’t an easy task to take on Vora, the Harbringer to the End of the Realm. They had arrived per Atlas’ letter to all champions he knew could take on this threat. Pip agreed to go with Moji not too far behind. A bit of dimensional tampering meant Pepper, Pip’s dimensional counterpart, tagged along as well.

When all champions were gathered in the middle of the Shattered Desert, the threat rose up on them from the sand below. It was unlike any sandworm in the Realm. Yagorath was a demonic insect that towered over the group like a skyscraper. A being of pure terror that had six eyes, claws for “hands”, a disgusting maw, and a horn stained with the color of the crystals in the Realm.

Viktor was the first to fire. The bullets fired on Yagorath did nothing. The roar in response followed with a deadly spray of acid aiming for the group. Viktor couldn’t jump in time, catching his leg in the poison and feeling the flesh of his skin revealing mere bone. There was no time to save him as Yagorath chomped down on the wounded soldier.

Pip knew right from then that it was a losing battle. He turned to Moji and Pepper and told them both to run. The three dashed as champions like Barik, Lian, and even Khan were picked apart easily by the wicked beast. Ground troops were like fodder.

The desert was hot, but the beast’s trail on all champions was hotter. Yagorath changed form, rolling up into a wheel of destruction that had magma seemingly inside the cracks of her body. Champions like Makoa got knocked over like a bowling pin.

Pip kept an eye on Moji and Pepper. He knew him and Pepper could always go weightless and Moji could tell her familiar to go faster. They would escape the desert, alert the higher beings of the Magistrate and Resistance, and everything could be fixed. Right?

Suddenly, a small dip in the sand caught Pip on his foot, sending him face-first in it. Pepper noticed, but with Yagorath wheeling up to them and bullets having no effect, potions wouldn’t slow Yagorath down fast enough. Pip tried his best to stand up, but one step on that foot made him fall over again. Guess it wasn’t a stumble after all.

Pip struggled to get up and Vagorath had swapped forms fast enough ready to consume the rogue alchemist for breakfast. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Moji and his familiar coming his way. Pepper was making an effort to catch the Leipori, but she wasn’t going to get far with how fast her familiar scampered.

Pip’s fruitless call for Moji to run for it were followed up by a roar from Yagorath as the beast opened her mouth whole. This was it, he thought. His luck on the streets had run out. His time as an alchemist was done. His only regret as an alchemist was not appreciating the ones around him sooner.

_ Chomp! _

* * *

Pip’s eyes opened as he felt a pat on his shoulder. It was Pepper. He couldn’t hide his concern from her. “Pip, are you doin’ alright?” She asked, genuine as she could muster.

Pip blinked, looked down, and then back at the gorgeous view. No answer.

“Plenty of casualties,” Pepper said, “They’re sayin’ that, in time, it could all be fixed if we work together, but it’s hard for anyone to act right now. We lost Lex, Viktor...” A moment of silence followed before she continued. “I know you miss  _ her _ .”

Boy, did he ever.

* * *

Pip watched in horror as Yagorath slurped her tongue, satisfied with her latest kill. Moji’s hat landed gently in the sand. Pepper forcibly grabbed Pip’s hand and pulled him out of his rooted predicament. He wanted to resist. He wanted to turn back the clock. Start over. Never bring them along.

Save themselves before him.

Nevertheless, they ran for it. Yagorath, distracted by her success, turned and went towards the opposite direction. Tears ran down Pip’s face as he was dragged along the sand with Pepper having to go weightless just to keep up the pace. He was kicking and screaming like a toddler.

It was unlike him, but being saved was something he thought someone unlike  _ her  _ would do.

* * *

Pip felt another liquid crystal roll down his cheek. “I told her to turn around, and she wouldn’t…”

Pepper nodded. “I know you did. But, for Moji, it was either you or her.”

“I wish it had been me.”

“Don’t say that!”

“Pepper, Moji was faster. You were faster. I should have been the first to go! I have the bad luck here. Me! Why should she play the hero this time?”

Pepper pulled Pip in for an embrace. He was hesitant to accept it at first. It was the first genuine act of affection anyone had given him after the event. He couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Pip began to sob. The sand was taking in the salty water escaping his eyelids with some getting on Pepper’s clothing. It was the hardest he had cried in his entire life. No loss was too hard for him to handle, but this? This was different.

Pepper moved her hand around Pip’s back, hoping it would soothe his sorrows. “When we see that thing again, we’ll be ready for it,” she said.

The moonlight above them glistened.


End file.
